Well, I think I’m about as stunned as anyone right now. House Majority leader Eric Cantor lost his primary by 10 percent tonight after polls had clearly shown him leading by double digits for weeks. Eric Cantor has been widely regarded as John Boehner’s replacement for leader of the Republican party in the house, and likely the next speaker should they hold their majority in November and Boehner resign (as some have begun to believe he may).
It’s truly going to be fascinating to see how this shakes up the Republican leaders in the House, as surely there’s going to be a competitive race for Majority Whip (assuming Kevin McCarthy steps up and runs for Majority Leader, which GOP sources have said he will to multiple news sources). I’ve already read several articles on who the media believes may run for Whip, and it’s pretty clear there’s no real consensus as to who is “up next”, which means we’ll get a fascinating leadership battle. Politico had a good list of potential candidates if you’re interested. Hopefully we can get you a good look at the race within a couple of days, it really depends on who shows interest, which could be a wide array of republicans.
It’s also going to be interesting to see if Boehner changes his plans for the future based on the loss of his right-hand man. The rumor of his possible resignation from the speakership this year has already been widely circulated, but this could prove to be an interesting addition to his decision.
In terms of policy, it’s likely immigration reform just died, which is fantastic (sarcasm). Not like I expected much to happen there anyways… But Cantor was the only person in the Republican leadership who even considered a deal, which ultimately contributed to the loss of his seat to Brat. On top of immigration reform, Cantor was also in charge of putting together the Republican’s healthcare counter-proposals, so it’ll be interesting to see who takes the lead there and how that will effect the organization.
Anyways, I’m sure we’ll have much more out about this as the new race for the leadership begins, but this is truly just fascinating to me. I’m of course disappointed in our dead immigration reform prospects, but this is just one big shock tonight for everyone. Apparently Eric Cantor was too moderate for today’s Republican party. Hopefully Virginia’s 7th District will elect a Democrat, though it hasn’t since 1971. I’m sure Brat is having a great campaign victory party tonight. Congratulations to another tea-partier in Washington.